AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers Credits: Twitter

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has taken a sly dig at England after their poor performance on day one of the ongoing first Test against India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

England won a good toss but failed to capitalise on it as India took the opening day honours. The visitors were in good position on a number of occasions while batting but failed to capitalise on them. Their openers shared an opening stand of 55 runs before India struck back by taking 3 wickets in quick succession.

Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root quickly steadied the ship with a 61-run stand before England suffered another collapse that saw them getting reduced to 155 for 7 from 121 for 3. A fine fifty from Ben Stokes then helped England cross the 200-run mark and post a respectable total of 246.

AB de Villers trolls England:

While England’s total looked a challenging one, India did not take long to take the upper hand. Yashasvi Jaiswal came out all guns blazing, scoring a 47-ball fifty. He took the England bowlers to the cleaners right from ball one. The left-handed batsman and skipper Rohit Sharma added 80 runs for the opening wicket before Jack Leach dismissed the latter for 24.

At stumps, India were on 119 for 1 with Jaiswal unbeaten on 76 off 70 balls. Giving him company was Shubman Gill on 13. As Jaiswal went all out against England, AB de Villiers took to X to share his views. Taking a dig at England’s aggressive approach, he wrote on X:

“India batting at 8/9 rpo at the start of their innings here. You don’t have to call it brave, bold or bazz ball, it’s literally just playing the situation. Identifying moments in a Test match where u can get ahead in the game is what it’s all about. When the momentum shifts, u adapt and absorb for a period and wait for that moment again.”

“And ultimately, if you don’t respect the different moments and momentum shifts in the game, it will end up biting u, no matter what kind of ball you’re playing,” he added.